


Take a break (from your idiot brother)

by Immortal_Dreams



Series: Runes don't make a man [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Deruned Alec Lightwood, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Jace is an idiot, M/M, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Teacher Alec Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28969380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immortal_Dreams/pseuds/Immortal_Dreams
Summary: Jace is being an idiot off-screen and Izzy takes refuge with her favourite power couple. Alec starts to realise just how much of his life his siblings don't know about.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Isabelle Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Runes don't make a man [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121510
Comments: 7
Kudos: 167





	Take a break (from your idiot brother)

**Author's Note:**

> I did not think I would post another part this soon, but here we are. The next one will probably take longer, since I haven't really started that one yet.

When Alec wakes up the next day, Magnus already has coffee and breakfast ready. After he’s taken a quick shower, Alec joins him at the table, taking the offered cup of coffee like it’s the single greatest thing in the world. Magnus fills him in on what he missed while they’re eating breakfast. Apparently, things were going well with the summoning of the memory demon. Until it demanded a memory from everyone. A memory of the one they love most. And when Jace’s was of his father, he’d pulled back from the shock and the whole thing promptly failed. After that, Jace, Izzy and Clary left pretty quickly. But they did leave their numbers for Alec to text them. He puts them in his phone immediately.

He wants to text right now, but if he doesn’t leave for work now, he’ll be late. Alec always takes the subway to work, even if Magnus has offered to just portal him in many times. For some reason, Alec likes the morning rush on the subway. Seeing all those people going on with their days gives him this sense of fitting in. It keeps him aware that he’s a tiny piece in the clockwork that is society. So, grabbing his bag and kissing Magnus goodbye, Alec rushes out of the loft and down the stairs. 

He gets to the subway station just on time to catch the train in the right direction. It takes him ten minutes until he’s walking through the doors to the school and on that way, he already meets a few students. All of them greet him with a smile, albeit the fact that most of them look like they’re still half asleep. Alec doesn’t judge them for it. He looks just like that before his first cup of coffee. Speaking of coffee, he finds another cup sitting on his desk when he gets to his classroom. He knows it’s from Magnus simply because it’s a cup from the loft saying ‘Move, I’m Gay’. It’s Alec’s favourite cup, one he even bought himself (with prompting from Magnus, yeah. But he paid for it!).

The few students already in the classroom seem to appreciate the humour because Alec can hear a quiet snickering and someone tiredly commenting “Mood.”. Despite what some people think, Alec knows exactly what that means. He’s not completely ignorant, after all. Besides, memes and vines are funny and a good way to pass the time when he’s at home, waiting for Magnus to finish up with a client. The students in his class know that, of course. Well, the part about Alec being basically fluent in memes, not the part where he looks at them while his husband is doing magic for a client. They do know about the husband, just not about the magic. The reason for that is pretty self-explanatory.

As usual, he starts his class with asking his students how their week as been. It’s Friday and he knows they’re exhausted from school and just want to enjoy the weekend. Venting about homework before starting with the day’s topic usually helps with their ability to concentrate.

Overall, his students seem to have had an okay week, stressful, but not unusually so. They also ask about his week and he tells them he had a small family reunion with his siblings after years apart. When they ask about why he hasn’t seen them in years, Alec stays vague. He says he had to leave their old home and they didn’t get the chance to decide to follow him, being too young. It’s kind of true, even if he thinks they would not have followed him even if given the chance. Izzy and Jace like being shadowhunters. Killing demons makes them happy. They like that life. Alec did not.

After that, they get to actually learning stuff and Alec almost forgets what happened the day before. But on his lunch break, he checks his phone and his gaze falls on Izzy’s contact. So, because he has nothing else to do, he send her a text. It’s just a quick ‘Hey, it’s Alec. How are you doing?’, but he guesses the sentiment counts. What he doesn’t expect is the paragraph she sends back. He stares at his phone for a second before even trying to decipher the rant she obviously typed in one go.

‘OH MY GOD, JACE IS SO STUPID’, it starts off and Alec already knows he’s not going to like whatever follows.

‘He almost spilled the beans to mom!!! Clary kicked him to stop his idiocy, but mom got suspicious so now she’s thinking Jace got Clary pregnant because that’s the only thing those two idiots could come up with on the spot. Will you PLEASE come save me, hermano? I’m literally surrounded by idiots. And now Jace is talking about how it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to tell mom the truth and how she deserves to know her son is alive and ‘oh, why don’t we tell Robert too? I bet he’ll be so happy to know Alec isn’t dead!’. UGH. IDIOTS, ALL OF THEM. Can I come over to visit you and the hubby?’

Alec blinks, then types back. ‘He knows our parents are homophobic at best and openly hate downworlders, right?’

‘They’d rather have me dead than gay AND married to a warlock.’

‘Just make Jace confess that they spoke too soon and Clary’s period was only late and they should be fine.’

Izzy’s reply comes only a few seconds after his last text. 

‘He seems to have forgotten that. And good idea, when did you get so comfortable talking about periods?’

Alec rolls his eyes. ‘(I’m rolling my eyes btw)You DO know I’ve got female friends? Why would I be uncomfortable taking about it? It’s natural.’

‘You, my dear brother, are one of the best men I have ever met,’ Izzy sends back. ‘So, can I come over?’

‘Later. Still at work. I’ll text you when I’m done.’

‘Kk, see ya later. Love you!’

‘Love you too, Izzy.’

Of course, a co-worker chooses that exact moment to glance over his shoulder. “You’re not cheating on your husband, are you?” she asks. “I’d hate to have to tell him.”

“What? No!” Alec looks horrified. “That’s my sister!”

“Oh,” his colleague says, blushing. “I am so sorry. I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Alec waves her off. “It’s alright. We—ah, well, we used to be estranged. Only just reconnected after years of not talking. Turns out our brother is annoying enough for her to want to hang out with Magnus and me instead.”

“She does know you two are disgustingly sweet, right?”

Alec shrugs. “I guess she’s about to find out.”

They both laugh a bit, but the bell interrupts any further conversation they could have had. Alec’s eyes widen.

“Shit,” he says, jumping up and throwing his empty lunch box in his bag.

He has to basically run to still get to his classroom before all of the students arrive, but he manages to do it. The rest of the day’s classes go as well as the first few. His students are happy to be done with exams for now and there’s a relaxed atmosphere in the room. Still, Alec has to say he’s happy when the final bell of the day rings and he can pack up and head home. He really wants to get back to Magnus and spend some quality husband time with him. That’s also why he texts Izzy to come over an hour after he’ll be home. Who knows? Maybe she’ll actually respect his wish.

When he comes home, Magnus is on the phone with a client, so Alec makes them hot chocolate (with Baileys because he’ll need the alcohol if he’s supposed to help deal with his brother’s idiocy later) while he waits. After he’s done, Magnus presses a kiss to Alec’s mouth and they settle on the sofa, cuddled together. Magnus turns the TV on and they watch some cooking show while sipping their hot chocolate. It’s in these domestic moments that Alec realises how lucky he is to have Magnus. He presses a kiss to his husband’s hair and receives a quiet laugh in response.

Izzy shows up ten minutes before the time Alec gave her and it’s honestly later than he expected. It seems his sister has gotten better at respecting people’s wishes. Or she got held up. Ah, well. He’ll never know. She smiles at the view of Alec and Magnus snuggled together on the couch and falls into an armchair opposite them.

“You two are so cute,” she says and Alec laughs.

“Thanks,” he says. “Hey, do you want some hot chocolate? I think there’s some left.”

Izzy nods. “Yeah, sure. Where is it? I’ll get it myself.”

Alec waves her off. “Don’t bother.”

He can feel Magnus’ magic a little clearer in his veins today. Which means it will listen to his command. So, Alec lifts his hand and concentrates and a second later, the tumbler with the hot chocolate in it comes flying into the living room. A mug is not far behind and the tumbler tilts just enough to fill the mug before both of them settle down on the table in front of Izzy. In the meanwhile, Izzy stares at Alec, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

He tilts his head, a little confused. “What?”

“You—” Izzy tries to find the right words. “You just used magic.”

“Uh, yeah?” Alec says, shrugging. “It’s Magnus’. Likes me a little more than usual today.”

Izzy’s still staring. “But—you’re not a warlock.”

And then, Alec realises. “Oh.” 

She doesn’t know about that. This is the first time she’s seen him use Magnus’ magic. It’s almost as easy as walking for him by now, seeing as it’s been a few years since that magic sharing thing started. But Izzy has no idea about that and maybe Alec should have thought about that before shocking her by using magic. Maybe telling her about the magic situation first would have been a good idea, yeah.

“I can use Magnus’ magic sometimes,” he says, hoping it’s enough of an explanation.

Izzy nods very slowly. “How?”

Alec shrugs. “Fuck if I know. We never found the exact reason. Only have a few theories in our friend group. I think the most popular one is that it’s because I love Magnus with my whole heart and his magic somehow recognises that.”

Magnus hums. “Ragnor still thinks it’s because you’re a nephilim and we had unprotected sex.”

“Oh yeah,” Alec says, snorting. “That theory.”

And then he realises he’s talking about his sex life right in front of his baby sister and his face turns a bright shade of red. But Izzy doesn’t seem like she’s fully processed it, so he relaxes a bit. She keeps staring into nothing for a few more minutes, opening her mouth to speak and closing it again a few times. Finally, she takes a deep breath and nods.

“Okay,” she says. “This is completely crazy and I will definitely need some time to get used to it, but I’m okay.”

Alec smiles. “I’m glad,” he says, and then, “There’s alcohol in the hot chocolate if you need it.”

Izzy picks it up immediately and takes a big gulp. Alec takes a sip of his own while Magnus giggles quietly.

“So,” Alec says, deciding it’s time for a topic change. “Has Jace fixed the situation with mom?”

Izzy snorts. “Not yet. He went completely red at your suggestion and refused to talk about that kind of stuff with mom.”

“Ah.” Alec shakes his head. “He’s an idiot. Do you think it’s a ‘I need to be a manly man’ thing, or just a straight thing to not want to talk about women having periods?”

“Probably both,” Magnus throws in from where he’s comfortably lying on Alec’s lap.

Izzy nods. “I’ll have to agree with you there, bro. For some reason, a lot of straight men are really not confident enough in their masculinity to even consider doing or talking about feminine thing.”

“It’s frankly ridiculous,” Magnus says. “Like, I have dated women before. And you can bet your ass I went to buy tampons and pads or whatever was used at the time when they needed it. Don’t see why it’s such a big deal.”

Alec shrugs once again. “Yeah, me neither.”

“I’ll ask Clary to talk some sense into Jace,” Izzy says. “Maybe he’ll actually listen if she’s the one saying it.”

“That is probably a good idea.”

They chat about more casual things for the next hour, just enjoying spending time together. Unfortunately, just when Alec is about to suggest they go out for dinner together, Izzy gets an alert from the Institute.

She groans, but gets up. “Duty calls, I guess.”

Alec nods. “Yeah.”

He carefully manoeuvres Magnus off of his lap and stands up too. They walk to the door together and Alec pulls Izzy into a quick hug before she hurries down the stairs. 

_Maybe next time_ , Alec thinks, going back to cuddling with his husband.

**Author's Note:**

> You can scream at me on tumblr @the-immortal-dream 
> 
> (or send requests on what fics you'd like to see ;) )  
> (or ask questions about this 'verse)


End file.
